


Urban Arcana-morphs

by poisonbite01



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25650442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonbite01/pseuds/poisonbite01
Summary: In the late 90s, a group of junior high kids head out from the arcade to a little after-school dungeon crawling. What they find is not what they expect, and they are pulled into a conspiracy, an alien invasion, and a fight for their world that they were not ready for.~~~Animorphs, but in an Urban Arcana/Modern Fantasy setting. Still set in the late 90s though, but with lots of magic and monsters and stuff.A piece of art was done for it, but isn't relevant to the fic until the end of chapter 3/start of chapter 4, where I'll be putting it into the fic itself. The link to the art can be foundHERE
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5
Collections: Animorphs Mini Bang 2020





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 01 - Jake

“Come on Jake, I want to find that spot I told you about while we’ve still got some daylight.” 

Marco’s voice was not the only sound I had to tune out in order to focus up. The teen tavern we were hanging out in was packed and noisy, and the final fight in Tekken 2’s arcade mode was no laughing matter. Marco was just whining to make his boredom known anyway, and considering we’d been friends since kindergarten, I’d gotten pretty good at ignoring him. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Devil got the better of me, and I grunted in frustration then smacked a hand lightly against the arcade cabinet’s side. 

“Alright dude, lets go.” I scooped up my sword and shield from where they were leaning against the cabinet while Marco hopped out of the chair he’d been curled up in. He flicked his thin tail to work out the kinks, twitched his triangular ears, and scooped up his backpack. 

“Finally. Watching you make a mockery of Paul’s fighting skills was making me feel bad for a bunch of polygons.” 

I snorted with laughter and nudged my much smaller best friend as I moved past him, but before I could take more than a few steps, the door opened and my cousin walked in. 

Orcs are big, usually green, and have these big tusks jutting up from our bottom jaw, and half-orcs with human parents are just as big, just as green, and with tusks a lot like them. Elfs, though, are a little short, with slight builds, long and prehensile tails, big triangular ears, and manes of fur that run down their backs and cover their tails. I’m a half-orc, half-human, so I’m big, got that green skin, but my tusks are just long enough to poke past my bottom lip, but not long enough to start to curve. Marco’s dad is an elf and his mom a human, so he’s small, with a flexible tail and ears, but he hasn’t got the mane like them. Instead, he’s got this really thick, wild, dark hair that I guess people think is pretty? I don’t know. 

My cousin Rachel though? Rachel’s dad and my dad are orcs and brothers, but her mom is an elf, and she’s a tall one. I’m like a half foot taller than most of my classmates, almost a foot and a half taller than Marco, and a few inches taller than most other half-orcs. My cousin is a whole head taller than me. She’s a giant. She’s taller than my human mom. She also didn’t get the elf mane, and she didn’t get the elf tail either, but her skin is this cool color somewhere between her dad’s green and mom’s storm-cloud gray. She’s got platinum blond, straight hair that she’s been growing out for years. 

She is really pretty, I guess. I only know that because Marco has been telling me she’s cute for years. And my mom compliments her anytime we’re at a family gathering. And half the people in the tavern turned their heads to glance at the door when she entered, and then did a double take to follow her as she walked towards Marco and I. I didn’t see it, because all I can ever see when I look at her height and grace and sheets of “beautiful” hair is Rachel from when we were little: Three years old, covered in dirt and mud, holding a giant rat that had gotten into our house over her head, screaming. 

Then again, I didn’t really hang out with Rachel very much. We didn’t like any of the same stuff, and while we were both taking martial combat P.E. classes at school, we weren’t in the same periods or anything. I was into sports, sword-fighting, and video games, she was into fashion, bludgeoning weapons, and gymnastics. We had… nothing in common. 

Cassie walked in after Rachel, wiping her hands on her coveralls, and I flushed. Okay, we had one thing in common. We both liked Cassie. Cassie was Rachel’s opposite in just about every way. She wasn’t loud and obvious. She was subdued, quiet, and often dirty. Cassie is human, short, has a stocky body, dark skin, and she keeps her hair in tight rows against her skull. I don’t know what they’re called but they work for her. I think so anyway. 

I felt warm all over suddenly and Marco swatting me on the back of the head with his tail didn’t help. I tugged at the collar of my tunic and wished suddenly that I’d switched into something nicer. A cool graphic tee or something, instead of the rough, drab cloth I wear under my armor whenever Marco and I go questing. 

“Hey Rachel, Cassie!” Marco’s voice called out and I frowned. He sauntered forward, holding his arms out for a hug, but Rachel planted a hand on the top of his head and held him at arm’s length. 

“Jake, your hamster got out again,” Rachel called. I saw her turn her head towards me, but I reacted a little too late. I looked away from Cassie, who’d caught me looking and she’d quickly looked down to find a clean spot on her coveralls to wipe her hands off again. I focused on my cousin, who was smirking at me now. I frowned and walked up, hooked the back of Marco’s leather jerkin, and tugged him away from Rachel, who he was still walking towards despite the hand covering his entire face. 

“Jake, you have betrayed me for the last time,” he said, trying to spin around and slap me, but I kept my grip and stepped around, circling behind him to keep out of his limited reach. 

“How’s it going Rachel?” Rachel didn’t immediately respond to my question, watching Marco windmill his arms to try and get to me. After a few seconds, she reached back and swung an arm over her own friend’s head and scooped Cassie forward. Her other arm came up, showing off the many shopping bags she was clutching.

“Cassie and I were getting some new defensive clothing. Between the coupons my mom got and the flash sale on bracers and protection cloaks, we made a killing.” 

Marco froze and opened his mouth, a horrific pun approaching. Both myself and Rachel could detect it building, like how my grandpa can tell when it’s going to rain because his knees swell up. 

“If you make a crack, I will reach inside you and pull you inside out by your tail.” Rachel’s snap ended with a lilting, sing-song voice, and Marco instantly shut his mouth, giggling behind his closed lips. I rolled my eyes and then focused on Cassie. 

“What all did you get Cassie?” 

Cassie was giggling silently behind a hand as Marco furiously mimed like he was bursting at the seams to speak and Rachel kept holding up a finger and going “Ah! Shut! No” every time he opened his mouth or looked at her. Cassie looked at me and shrugged, then glanced at the bags. 

“Clothes I guess? Um, I wasn’t…. Really paying attention.” 

Rachel spun around, a horrified expression rolling onto her features. 

“You weren’t? But you picked out the styles! I went against my better judgment on those shield-cuffs but you said you liked them!” 

“I’m sorry! I was overwhelmed! I just wanted to get out of the store!” 

“I can’t believe this. We’re going back right now and exchanging them.” 

“Please no Rachel… They work, I’ll use them. Can we just go?” 

Sensing an opportunity, Marco stepped up, swung an arm around Rachel’s waist, and took a chance. 

“Yeah, lets go test out those defensive outfits. Jake and I were gonna do a little dungeon-diving before we turned in, you girls want to come?” 

Rachel frowned down at Marco, then started flicking him in the temple repeatedly. 

“If we wanted to test them out, we wouldn’t need you two chuckle-heads getting in the way.” I could almost see the contempt rolling off of Rachel like cartoon stink lines, and I couldn’t help chuckling at the sight of Marco staring up at her, ears flicking down and then back up each time her finger plunked against his skull.

Cassie, however, pursed her lips and said “Well, I don’t know, a balanced party composition would help me feel a little more comfortable.” Her eyes moved to me for a fraction of a second, but when I locked eyes with her she looked towards the bags Rachel was holding. I felt warm again and cast my eyes around for something else to look at, and found Tobias sitting on the edge of the balcony above us all. He stood out because he was sitting on the railing, kicking his feet, and sketching in a big book with a quill. 

Tobias was kind of an odd kid. I’d pulled his butt out of a harsh spot in one of our martial training exercises once. He’d run out of spell slots and had a skeleton chasing him around. I took out the skeleton and ever since he’s sort of followed me around. He’s got this scruffy, grungy look that I guess works for him, and he always walks around with this careful air like he’s worried about waking someone up. His clothes look like they’re a few sizes too big and they’re all, according to the popular kids, “so out of fashion that his dad has to be a time traveler or something.” I don’t know a whole lot about him except that he can cast the “Slow Fall” and “Jump” spells, reads a lot, and wants to be a wizard. He’s not super chatty even when we are hanging out. Then again, Marco doesn’t really leave much chance for other people to talk. 

Rachel let out a sigh and pulled back her hand, blew on her finger, and lined up another shot against Marco’s forehead, but he pulled back and disengaged, bumping into me sharply. I oofed, shoved him back, and Rachel let out a much-bereaved sigh. 

“Fine! But two fighters, an animal nerd, and whatever the hell Marco can do except annoy people to death isn’t a super balanced party. We could use some magic.” For some reason, her voice was a little louder than entirely necessary, and when I looked back up at Tobias, he was staring at her with a curious, confused expression on his face. 

I wasn’t sure why it felt right, but I cupped my hands around my mouth and called “Tobias, want to go questing with us?” 

His eyes snapped to me, bright and excited and cautious, and then he straight up fell off the railing, spoke a word in a lilting language I didn’t recognize, and fell like a piece of paper instead of a thirteen year old kid. He landed without a sound, looked up at me, and nodded. 

There was a moment of silence, then Marco clapped his hands and spoke in an over the top, grandiose tone.

“Great! Five heroes, set out on a quest for mundane statuary and loose change! Fellow heroes, let us away!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 90s, a group of junior high kids head out from the arcade to a little after-school dungeon crawling. What they find is not what they expect, and they are pulled into a conspiracy, an alien invasion, and a fight for their world that they were not ready for.
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Animorphs, but in an Urban Arcana/Modern Fantasy setting. Still set in the late 90s though, but with lots of magic and monsters and stuff.
> 
> A piece of art was done for it, but isn't relevant to the fic until the end of chapter 3/start of chapter 4, where I'll be putting it into the fic itself. The link to the art can be found [HERE](https://asleepymonster.tumblr.com/post/625293513162162176/fic-link-urban-arcana-morphs-my-art-piece-for-the)

Chapter 02 - Rachel

I like clothes. They serve a purpose, sure, and like, they look pretty, but they also tell a story. You see someone wearing beat up old armor that doesn’t fit exactly right, then that person is either broke or that armor is magic. You see someone striding into battle wearing a spotless dress and an elaborate hairstyle? That’s a mage, be careful. 

You see a bunch of teenagers traipsing through the woods in an assortment of mismatched armor, second-hand shields, and brand new defense cloaks? Those are probably idiots with nothing better to do. 

Hi, I’m Rachel, and this is my least favorite part of adventuring. I don’t mind getting dirty, but like, I hate just marching through the forest! I mean, I grew up out here, yeah, and Port Saint Anna is surrounded on three sides by these woods. I smashed my first skeleton out here, and shot down a fire-fiend with Cassie’s crossbow once. It was full of memories, but it was also full of mud, and these shoes were not working out here. 

We were walking in a line, with Jake at the front, Marco right behind him and Tobias next. Then there was Cassie and then me, at the back. We’d ditched the bags and got dressed, tucking our mall clothes in Cassie and Marco’s backpacks, but I hadn’t bought or brought any proper adventuring boots. I had this pair with spiked heels and a mud-repellent charm that would have been perfect out here, but by the time we took the bus home, got them, and then headed back out, we wouldn’t have made it before it got too late. Instead, I had on my platform skechers. At least I had proper protective gear. 

I was wearing my new cloak, which was secured to my wrists by these cute bangles I got from Claire’s so I could swing it about if I needed to. The cloak was a shield cloak so if I swung it in the way of a weapon it would absorb most of the impact. I had a nice leather jerkin that matched the pleated leather skirt I was wearing. I looked like Xena, and that worked for me. Between the cloak and my own tough, half-orc hide I didn’t need as much armor as some people. My fighting style didn’t really work with armor anyway. I ran in, smacked whatever was annoying me with a big stick (my dad called it a Kanabo, he brought it back from a trip to Japan. It was heavy but my coach said I’d grow into it), and then backed up. Rinse and repeat. 

Cassie was still wearing her coveralls, but the shield-bracers were bright and shiny. She could click them together to form a barrier around herself. Very useful if you weren’t a front-line fighter, and she had her big crossbow and a quiver of bolts ready to go. Plus, she could climb trees like no one else I knew. 

Tobias didn’t change. He was a mage, so like, he couldn’t really wear armor anyway, I guess? He at least looked like the kind of person you’d see running around in the woods at two pm on a Saturday afternoon. Plus, I don’t think he had many other clothes. I’m pretty sure the tunic he was wearing was one that I’d donated to goodwill like, a year ago. 

Marco also didn’t really wear armor, except for the chainmail shirt he wore between his t-shirt and tunic. Jake told me that he’d told him that he liked the weight on his body, and also liked the noise it made, though he’d gotten really good at moving without a sound recently; that was kind of eerie. Cool, but eerie. He had his backpack and there was a pair of sturdy, rattan sticks sitting in the extra-deep pocket on the side of the pack. 

Jake had the most, like, conventional adventurer style. He had big boots, leggings, and an iron breastplate. Buying a full suit of plate armor was NOT something you did for a kid, especially a kid with orc heritage; by the time you’d got it fitted they’d already grown into a new size. Still, he had a breastplate, a helmet, and his sword arm was completely kitted out, from shoulder to fingertips. He also had a big kite-shield that was chipped around the edges. It had been Tom’s, Jake’s older brother. He slept with it next to his bed, and one time a kid at school had stolen it. I’d never seen Jake get that mad before. Luckily, Marco defused the whole situation and the kid gave it back. Jake’s longsword, though, wasn’t nearly as important to him. He was constantly switching up swords at training, trying to find something that felt right in his grip, and this sword wasn’t going to last too much longer. 

We marched for, like, a million hours before we finally encountered something. It was pretty typical late afternoon woods stuff: a bear skeleton stood up from under the pile of leaves that had accumulated around it. 

Jake let out a yell and Marco’s tail flicked sharply to the side, which whacked Tobias in the thigh (probably on accident, I don’t know) and both of them stumbled away. Cassie and I froze for just a second, before I raced forward. 

Jake swung his sword out and brought up his shield to catch the bear’s powerful overhead swing. The claws raked down the trusty steel and left faint gouges. Jake fell to one knee with the force of the impact, bracing the shield with his sword-holding fist. I used the distraction to circle around, pirouette, and slam my club onto the back of the skeleton’s knee. 

Unfortunately, that got the monster’s attention. It spun, snarled, reared up on its hind legs and swung a back-hand that I managed to swing my club up into the path of. Still, I was hurled back a few feet and bumped into a tree. 

For a moment, my vision went a bit starry when my head rocked against the bark, but I threw myself to the side, just in time. The big, blurry form of the skeleton raced forward and slammed into the tree with the force of a pick-up truck. The tree cracked and started to fall, and I scrambled back to my feet to rejoin the others. 

As I came in, Cassie was helping Jake to his feet and Marco was standing next to Tobias with a bunch of rope in his arms. Tobias was muttering something and flipping through his book, while Marco’s ears flapped up and down in agitation. 

“You good?” Jake asked me, rolling his shield arm in its socket. 

“Yeah. I don’t think I did a whole lot to it though.” 

“Marco’s got a plan.” 

“Is it stupid and unlikely to succeed?” I was watching the bear as it bucked off the tree and tossed its head around to look for us. The dark pits where its eyes used to be flared red and I braced myself. Jake readied his shield and sword, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie drop the end of her crossbow into the dirt, plant a foot on its cross-arm, tug hard on the priming lever, and swing the crossbow back into her arms with the smooth, practiced ease of someone who’d done this a hundred times. 

“No, it’s not one of your plans.” Marco called from behind us, a little affronted.

“Oh, alright then,” I said, grinning. The grin faded quickly when the beast started to gallop towards us on all fours.

“We’ve got to keep it busy. Tobias needs a bit of time to get the spell going.” Jake’s words were calm and measured in that practiced way that I knew meant he was trying to keep a level head. It wasn’t easy to keep calm with a giant undead monstrosity racing towards you, but he managed it. It was easier for me to fake it than the others, so I did just that. 

“I’ve got this,” I said. I swung the club up onto my shoulder, took a few steps, and then launched into a full charge at the bear. I came in hard and fast. The bear paused; even an undead apex predator would be confused by prey charging at you. I swung my club in a huge arc, like a baseball player, and clocked it across the snout. It jerked from the impact, and then a crossbow bolt shot into the side of its skull, sending cracks all over its jaw. 

The bear whipped around, but Cassie was too far back, and I swung my club again, this time aiming for one of its forelimbs. I caught it in the elbow and the limb was shoved out from under it’s center of gravity, across its chest, which made the bear fall onto its side. It still had one forelimb firmly planted on the ground, but the rapid fire strikes had, for just a moment, overloaded it’s simple predatory brain.

Before the bear could right itself, Jake came in next to me, shield first, and slammed it in the remaining supporting forelimb. The arm went up high, and his sword swung down, cleaving off half-a-dozen ribs. He stepped to the side, towards me, to avoid the reflexive swipe of the limb he’d just knocked away. 

Unfortunately, this put him a bit too close to the one I’d hit, and it lashed out and hooked his boot. It pulled, he fell, and I jumped forward with a scream. I slammed my club down with all my might on the bear’s elbow once more. 

This time, the joint shattered, shards of bone shooting in every direction. Cassie was there again, tugging Jake back as he kept his shield up to fend off any more strikes, and I raced back as well. Skirmisher tactics worked best when you couldn’t beat something with raw power, after all, and while the creature tried to stand up, we regrouped. 

“How’s that plan going Marco?” Jake’s request was spoken through a pant and a pained wince: that bear had done a number on his ankle. He tested his weight gingerly and found he could stand alright, but I saw his grimace. 

The bear got up now, and instead of lumbering around on all fours stood on its hind legs. The arm I’d struck was dangling by a few shards of bone, but eventually those weren’t enough to hold it on and it fell to the ground. It started walking forward, clattering and roaring despite not having any of the meat needed to make those sounds, and crushed its own discarded limb in the process. 

Then there was a sound like a pogo-stick extending and I glanced back just in time to see Marco leave the ground with the speed and force of a rocket. Marco yelled as he flew up into the top of a large pine tree, wrapped his arms, legs, and tail around it, and said “This plan sucks whose idea was this!” 

“Yours!” Jake called, bracing himself again. I could hear Marco muttering in annoyance up above us, and could hear the rustling of branches and those little pine-needle things. 

The bear was almost on top of us. Jake pursed his lips and I knew he was running through the handful of exercises we’d learned in class. He was all about that tactics and stuff. I just liked to hit stuff and look good doing it. Before he could come up with anything useful, or maybe before he could figure out how to relay it, the bear had gotten a bit too close and someone had to do something. 

I was beaten to it by Cassie sucking in a deep breath and pumping a bolt into the bear’s sternum. She raced forward, yelling and waving her arms (she’d dropped the crossbow to hang on its shoulder strap). The bear swung its head in her direction and both Jake and I said the same swear word we’d gotten identical lectures from our fathers about, and raced after her. 

The bear swung sharply at Cassie, but she ducked. It came after her again, but she dived behind a tree and it smacked it hard. Marco, in that same tree, yelped and said “Hey, can you not do that? I’m trying to-” He stopped mid shout, as if something had occurred to him, and then said “Actually, keep it right there.” 

I still didn’t know what this whole plan was about, but hey, I didn’t need to know. I heard this chatter, but all I really saw was Cassie dodging the bear. The bear didn’t even turn as Jake and I approached, and it was because it was swinging a powerful swipe at Cassie, who’d fallen on the ground. Cassie swung her wrists together, the metal bracers touched, and the claws slammed against a bubble of force, a faint blue in color, that sprang up around Cassie. The ground depressed slightly around Cassie’s feet from the impact, and the bear slammed again. The shield could only hold for as long as Cassie could keep her wrists together, and each slam was going to tax her strength. 

I had to get her out of there now, and I came in with a bear-like howl of my own. My club slammed into its back and Jake swiped at its hip, trying to hack through the thick bones there. I saw cracks forming on a bunch of the bear’s vertebrae, but the magic animating the monster kept it together. I’d have to do more serious damage before it would even feel it, and I knew Jake had to be frustrated with his sword’s inability to do much. 

The bear spun towards us and swung a paw, but I ducked and Jake brought his shield up to bear, deflecting the claw further up, and then Marco’s plan came into action. While the bear pulled back for another swipe, Marco jumped down, floating slowly courtesy of Tobias’ Slow Fall spell. As he fell, he looped the rope over the bear’s paw and cinched it tight, so when it swung, it found itself fighting against the tall tree it was now tied to.

Marco dropped down next to Cassie as she got to her feet, both of them jumping back as the bear thrashed to free itself. Jake and I also moved back, grinning, and Tobias came up behind us, eyes bright from excitement. I’d never seen him look like that; occasionally I’d see him at lunch or in math and he’d always look a little frustrated or skittish. This was a good look for him. I smiled at him, he flushed, and then we all yelled and jumped back as the bear tipped over, bending the tree slightly, but unable to do much else. 

“Alright, nice one Marco.” Jake said, high-fiving as his best friend approached. 

“Yeah, that didn’t suck.” My praise, limited as it was, fit neatly into our little back-and-forth that we’d had on the handful of times we actually hung out. I didn’t want him to get a swollen head, but he was already doing deep, theatrical bows. 

“I thank you, I thank you, you’re too kind. I’d like to thank the academy and-” 

“We can’t just leave it like that, can we?” Tobias’ sharp, high voice, a little breathless from the usage of magic, broke Marco’s performance, and we stopped to stare at the creature, thrashing and pulling at the rope. The tree was bent at, like, a sharp angle like a hundred degrees or whatever, and I saw Cassie’s expression twist into an obvious frown. 

Without waiting I stepped up, jumped, and swung my club as hard as I could onto the thing’s skull. The skeleton’s head shattered, teeth and chips going everywhere.. A split second later, the magic animating the skeleton vanished. The strength, weight, and durability of a bear was gone, it was just a bunch of bones, most of them attached by nothing but magic, so the tree straightened so hard and fast that the arm tied to it was flung into the air, where it broke apart, scattering claws and elbows and femurs or whatever all over the forest. All that was left was a single bone, caught in a loop of rope, dangling from the top of the tree. 

I spun, planted the head of my club on the ground and leaned on it. 

“What’s next?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 90s, a group of junior high kids head out from the arcade to a little after-school dungeon crawling. What they find is not what they expect, and they are pulled into a conspiracy, an alien invasion, and a fight for their world that they were not ready for.
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Animorphs, but in an Urban Arcana/Modern Fantasy setting. Still set in the late 90s though, but with lots of magic and monsters and stuff.
> 
> A piece of art was done for it, but isn't relevant to the fic until the end of chapter 3/start of chapter 4, where I'll be putting it into the fic itself. The link to the art can be found [HERE](https://asleepymonster.tumblr.com/post/625293513162162176/fic-link-urban-arcana-morphs-my-art-piece-for-the)

Chapter 03 - Tobias

Magic is a lot of work. At least, wizardry is. It is all about memorization, practice, and pulling the power from yourself to turn the magic in the air into something usable. It doesn’t take a lot of magic to get wizardry to work, but you’ve got to make up for that with all the academic stuff. 

I can do it. I can focus pretty well. When you’ve got nothing to do on long bus and train rides but stare out of windows, you learn to find enjoyment in staring at nothing and trying to find the meaning in it. I don’t know if I’ve got the makings of a particularly powerful wizard or anything; my teacher says that there’s something a bit off about my magic, like it is blocked by something. He says emotional trauma can lead to an “inability to open oneself to magic,” and the school counselor says “an unstable home life can lead to hard-to-predict magical experiences.” 

Yeah that makes a lot of sense. Not much I can do about either of those problems. Except maybe focus a little harder. Read a little more. Practice my runes. I feel good about it, though. It gives me some control, you know? 

Looking around at Jake, Marco, Cassie, and Rachel, winded and laughing and rummaging around for bear teeth and claws to trade for silver arcade tokens and copper coins, I thought I should probably do this more often though. This made me feel nice too. 

“Tobias, catch!” Marco hurled a little pouch at me and I fumbled for it. I swatted it against my chest, then hit it with my knee as I bent to snatch it up, and then dropped it completely onto the ground. I scooped it up and kept my head down, burning with embarrassment, and Marco laughed. 

“That was quite the show, Tobias, but if the juggling act is- woop!” Marco fell hard, his legs swept out from under him by Rachel, who was still riding high on the victory adrenaline. She laughed and Marco yelped, scooping up a handful of leaves and dirt and throwing it at her. It splattered across her chest and Rachel gasped, stared at her armored body, then fixed Marco with a glare. 

“Uh oh.” Marco was on his feet an instant before Rachel was, tail curled against his back so she couldn’t grab it, and running in circles around the tree I’d hurled him into earlier. Rachel was right after him, yelling and stomping. 

My blush faded and I cracked another grin, and looked in the pouch. There was a black onyx stone in there, and a few cracked off teeth. I looked up and saw Jake staring at me. I guess he saw the question burning in my eyes, because he answered it.

“We can’t exactly split the gem stone, it’s probably worth, like, ten bucks, and we’ve got the lion’s share of the teeth and claws.” 

Marco, unable to pass up an opportunity came to an abrupt halt and said “Jake, you need to get your eyes checked. We fought a bear.” The second sentence was shouted as Rachel, unable to stop her forward momentum, careened into him, knocking them both to the ground. Rachel, taller than him, ended up rolling in the dirt and came to a stop, on her back at my feet, and I flushed again. She didn’t seem to notice and just laughed, shoved my knees, and knocked me into the dirt too. 

I tightened my grip on the bag as I fell and yelled. I didn’t want to lose the gem; it was a present and I don’t get those often. 

~~~

It took about thirty minutes for us to relax and get control of our giddy, post-battle emotions. Cassie had snacks in her bag that she divvied up, and then we set off again. Marco and Jake really wanted to scope out this ruin. At least some of my magic had started to flow again. A Jump spell and a Slow Fall right after had really taken it out of me. I’d managed four spells in a fight once, but I’d passed out afterwards. I wasn’t really excited to try that again. 

We marched for another half hour or so before Marco checked his map of the woods. It showed Marco as a little dot, and there was a thin dotted line leading from him to his destination. Well, there would have been, if we hadn’t been right on top of the green dot that marked it. 

Marco hustled up to the top of a little hill and shouted “Tada!” 

Jake and Cassie came up next, with Rachel right behind them and me lagging behind. I’m not as athletic as the rest of them. I take arcanum classes instead of martial training, and the march was starting to wear on me. I managed to get to the top and I wasn’t heaving for breath, so that was a blessing I guess. What I saw, nestled between hills and surrounded by uprooted, broken, or slightly-tipped trees, was pretty impressive. 

The structure was… not a structure. It looked more like a vehicle. It was sort of tear-drop shaped, but at the pointed rear end were two forward sweeping wings. A curved tail, similar to a scorpion’s stinger, curved up over its body, poised to strike. There was something beautiful about it, and I recognized the familiar tingle of magic in the air. This far away from the ship or whatever it was, I shouldn’t have felt anything. 

This thing was giving off enough magical energy that I didn’t even need a “See Magical Aura” spell. Even the rest of the group, who didn’t have any real magic seemed to recognize something off about it, except for Marco. He was looking at it with bright, almost hungry eyes. 

It looked like the ship had come erupting out of the ground, which explained all the messed up trees. Cassie took a few steps forward and looked at one of the felled ones, touched the broken roots, and spoke. 

“These broke recently. This thing had to have come up after the rain we had three days ago.” 

Jake frowned and focused on Marco. 

“How did you hear about this place?” 

“Cav, in Algebra. They said some spiders told ‘em about something in the woods, and I asked where it was. Got them to mark it and everything.”

“That didn’t seem a little suspicious to you?” Rachel hissed, glaring at Marco. 

“What? I knew it was recent and they said it was weird, so I thought we might get something cool out of it!” 

They spoke a little more, but I wasn’t paying attention. I felt… a buzzing sensation, somewhere just below my collarbone that I usually only felt when I was trying to push out a spell that I hadn’t quite figured out. It was the sort-of-heartburn of unfamiliar magic surging through me, but I wasn’t casting anything. I slid down the side of the hill towards the ship, and the skidding of rock and mud caught my friend’s attention. They shouted after me and started coming down, but I didn’t slow down. 

I walked around to the front of the ship. The magic felt stronger here, and I reached out. I pushed my hand against the hull; it was like wet sandpaper, but there was no moisture on my hand when I pulled it back. I looked from my hand back to the ship and then off to the side, following the curve of the ship where it met its wing. I did a double-take back to where I touched it: the outline of my hand was still visible, marked in dark blue light. 

Cassie’s hand reached up into my field of view, and reflexively I grabbed her wrist sharply and pulled her hand back, turning towards her. Marco, Rachel, and Jake were standing behind her, and she was looking at me with an eyebrow raised. 

“I… um… it isn’t safe.” 

“You touched it,” Marco said, eyebrows furrowed. 

“Yeah but, it… feels weird.” 

Cassie nodded suddenly, pulling her hand out of my grip. “You’re the one taking the magic courses.” She stepped back then, bumping into Jake who made a little grunt and moved back as well to make room. The awkward shuffling was amusing, but I quickly turned back to the ship. This was more important. I had to understand what this was. And I’m pretty sure that it wanted me to understand it.

Everyone else moved back and sat down, watching me, and my ears burned. I felt nervous, but I shut them out, and sank into the magic, trying to figure it out. This was one of the first things I’d learned to do. I could shift my senses to detect magical energy, to see how it worked and flowed in an area. It was sort of like sticking your head underwater, but without any actual water. When I did it, the ship lit up, surrounded by a field of magical energy. It wasn’t like anything I’d seen in my classes. 

We usually just examine stuff like magic swords, or calculators enchanted to solve more complicated math problems. These things looked like… faint hazes of magic of a few colors floating around the object. One time we’d gone up to the big observatory outside of town for a field trip, and we were allowed to look at this computer that was supposed to let you travel anywhere by dialing a phone number. The energy field on the computer had been impossible to see through, it was so thick, but it had been sort of fragile. The more complex an item is, the more advanced technologically it was, the harder it was for magic to stick to it. 

The ship’s energy field was weird. It was thick enough that I felt I should be able to touch it and feel it. There was none of the fragility I’d seen on the computer. The field was buzzing with every color imaginable, each one representing a different kind of magic, and a few colors I didn’t recognize. Everywhere, the magic buzzed, powerful and strange.

Except in the one place I’d touched it. The magic there was different, subdued somehow. I touched another spot on the hull, but nothing happened. I walked around, tracing arcane runes with my fingers all over it. I leaned my face against it, climbed onto one of its curved wings. Nothing I did made any difference. 

After fifteen minutes of nothing I heard Marco groan and a thump sound that had to be him flopping against something. Jake’s yelp seemed to indicate that it was he that Marco had fallen against. After a few more minutes of nothing, while I was sitting cross-legged on the top of the ship, Rachel was the next to get tired of the boredom. 

“This is dumb. I’m doing something.” Rachel leapt to her feet, took two long strides forward, and placed a hand against the side of the ship, a few feet from where I’d touched it. Immediately, the air around her crackled with power and she yelled, fell back and curled around her hand. 

“What the hell” she snarled. I slid off the top of the ship, fell ten or so feet to the soft, muddy ground, and immediately fell on my face, trying to get to her. Cassie was already there, pulling Rachel’s hand away from her and looking it over, with Jake and Marco standing over them. 

“There’s nothing wrong,” Cassie muttered, turning Rachel’s hand over and over. 

“Hurt like a bitch, though.” 

I frowned, looking from Rachel to the ship, then back to Rachel, trying to piece together what happened, but nothing made sense! Why did it hurt Rachel, but not me? Was it because I was human and she wasn’t? The only way to test that was to have everyone else touch it, and I didn’t like that idea, and wasn’t about to ask about it. 

Marco pulled me out of my thoughts when he said “Hey Tobias. Your hand is gone.” 

I whirled around and saw that my blue handprint had vanished. Instantly I focused up again, trying to see something, anything new, and I did! Whirls and spirals and flows of power that before I didn’t understand, I knew had to be related to defense, to repelling unwanted individuals. I stepped up again, planted my hand where I’d put it before, and watched carefully. 

Yes! Suppression! My print had weakened the flow of power, and when I pulled away, the interrupted magic remained interrupted. 

“Hmmm… Hey Jake, come here a sec?” 

Jake, still standing over Rachel, and leaning his weight around awkwardly, looked up and stepped over to me. 

“What’s up?” 

“Will you… put your hand here?” I pointed at the spot I’d cleared, the glowing print. I didn’t have anything more than a hunch, but Jake planted his hand right against the ship without a second’s hesitation. 

Instantly, the ship’s energy field changed. It became ordered, less free flowing. Instead of a cloud of power, it formed sheets, tracing carefully over the shape of the ship. And most importantly… there were lines of intense power, surging over it. All of them spiraled out from the contact point that Jake was holding his palm against, and I smiled and said “Yes! I think I’ve got it!” 

Jake turned a little to watch me move, and his hand slid along the surface of the ship, out of the safe spot, and instantly he was hurled back by a surge of power. The cloud reset, and I winced a little. 

“Sorry! Don’t… don’t move. Or touch the ship anywhere else. For some reason, the ship only wants you to touch it where I suppress the defense field.” 

Jake sat up, shaking out his stinging hand, and then swatted at Rachel, who was smirking at him. She kicked him in the side, knocking him over into the dirt again, but Marco cleared his throat and said “Come on guys. Let’s focus up a bit? Sounds like Tobias has figured out how to get this thing open.” Jake and Rachel glared for a second, but the faux-anger turned into giggles quickly enough, and they focused on me again. 

Marco looked at me, opened his mouth, but was cut off when Cassie raised her hand suddenly. There was a moment of silence and then Marco, Jake, and Rachel burst into riotous laughter, and both Cassie and I burned with embarrassment. To recover, Cassie asked her question. 

“How do you know that the ship wants you to open it?” 

“I don’t really know.” That was the truth, too. I didn’t really know. But I knew that I wanted it to open, and I felt… something else wanted me to open it too. Something was calling me, begging me to unlock the secrets within this strange craft. “I just… think it needs to be opened.” 

“Are you sure you aren’t, um, mind-affected? Charmed or whatever?” 

I shook my head, then stopped, frowned, and shrugged. “If I was, I wouldn’t exactly… say I am. I don’t feel like I am though. Plus, charms are not usually subtle.” 

Marco, Jake, and Rachel had finally stopped laughing at Cassie, and were sitting up. Marco had fallen across both Rachel and Jake’s legs, and now Rachel was shoving Marco off of her while Jake just got to his feet, dumping Marco off of his legs into the dirt. He started to speak, but Rachel beat him to the punch.

“I trust you, Tobias.” Having freed herself from Marco, she stepped up next to me and smiled a somewhat dangerous smile that made me feel funny from my toes to the top of my head. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, just… not one I knew the name of. Blushing, I nodded, and said “Alright. Let’s get to work.” 

The next hour was a flurry of activity. When I suppressed the field at the same spot and had Jake touch it again, it worked perfectly. I then started following the lines of power that Jake’s presence revealed, trying to pinpoint other spots where the magic was concentrated. I found a spot at the tip of one wing, but the ship was a little crooked so the wing was almost eight feet in the air. I couldn’t figure out how we were going to get someone up there to touch the spot I cleared, but Marco had an idea. 

He pulled out a bunch of rope, which we tied to one of the now-dead trees sticking halfway out of the ground. We managed to tip it slightly and it fell against the side of the ship. Cassie climbed up the now slightly-crooked tree, lay across some branches, and touched the spot. 

The next one was on the underside of the wing, so it was almost buried. We scooped some dirt and mud out of there, but Marco was the only one small enough to crawl under there and get to it without brushing against the ship anywhere. He complained a lot, but he got in there and stuck his hand against the ship. 

With three “buttons” pressed, the energy field was behaving weirdly, flowing between each point in waves and ripples. This made it really hard to actually see where the magical lines were at, but after a minute or so, I found the last contact point. It was, of course, at the tip of the scorpion tail thing. 

“I can’t… climb up there and activate it, and I don’t know how we’re going to get up there.” 

It was just me and Rachel now, standing at the back of the ship, listening to Marco hum noisily and Cassie yawn occasionally. 

“Could you levitate us or something,” Rachel asked, squinting at the spot I’d pointed out. It was about thirty feet off the ground. She looked at the nearby hillside, and I could tell she was trying to work something out. 

“I don’t really have Levitate. I could maybe Jump up there, or get you to Jump, but… I don’t know how useful that would be.”

“What if… we do what you did with Marco? Jump up there, secure a rope, and I climb up?” 

“You’d have to get on top of the ship to climb the rope: the tip is right over it.” 

“What if…” She smiled, thumped a fist into her hand, and pointed two finger guns at the tail. “I hold you in one arm, a rope in the other. You Jump me up there, the rope has a loop, I loop it on the tail on the way up, and we hang from that?” 

The idea was ridiculous. There were eight different ways it could fail. It was, without a doubt, an awful idea. 

But we didn’t have a lot of options if we wanted to do this. I had another Jump in the tank and, if we missed and started falling towards the ground, I could pull another Slow Fall. I’d be spent, but I could do it. So, we did it. We took Marco’s rope, tied a loop at one end, wrapped the rest around Rachel and I, and she hooked an arm around my back and pulled me in close. She was staring at the target point and I was focusing on spellcasting, but that didn’t stop me from noting that I’d never been held like this by anyone, let alone someone like Rachel. I almost flubbed a word of power when I realized that. 

I forced myself to focus on the end of the tail while Rachel wriggled her hips and shifted her weight, like a cat about to pounce. And when I felt the surge of power well up inside, I unleashed it. It flowed into Rachel, invisible to all but me, concentrated around her thighs, then flowed like jet-trails down into the ground. 

We left the ground fast. Rachel jumped and launched us towards the tail, and I yelled, wrapped my arms around her neck, and tried not to mess up her aim. Even with a Slow Fall ready, it was still scary, careening upwards at escape velocity. 

Then our momentum stopped suddenly Rachel grunted, and we swung back down… towards the tail. It had worked! Rachel had looped the rope around the end of the tail, the knot had pulled tight, and we’d stopped. But now we were swinging towards the curved slope of the tail, and Rachel reflexively stuck out a foot to catch us. 

“No!” I yelled, swinging my weight to the side. We spun past the tail, and I reached out, grabbed it with both hands, and managed to stop our swing. For a moment we hung there, the rope wrapped around us and one of her arms wrapped around me, and then she let out a sharp cry of delight.

“We did it!” 

I laughed along with her, and I heard Jake shout “What did you do? Are we done? My arm is getting tired!” 

Marco, muffled from the ship on top of him, said “Oh YOU’RE tired, mister gets-to-stand? I’ve got bugs and stuff crawling on me! I’m just sitting here in this gross mud, holding up a spaceship!” 

“I’m having a great time!” Cassie called, laughing. She was lounging across the branches, one arm dangling down to rest on the ship. Her amusement made both Jake and Marco grouse some more, but all I heard was Rachel’s laugh.Then she spoke. 

“Alright Tobias, let’s get this done.” I nodded and looked around for the spot. There! Right at the tip. I reached up and slapped at the top of the ship, and my hand in blue marked where Rachel needed to put her hand. She did so, and the ship’s magical field vanished completely. The ship began to vibrate slightly, and I shouted “Okay you guys can let go!” 

I nodded once to Rachel, who grinned wildly, pulled out a knife, and sliced the rope holding us up. I caught us with magic and we descended carefully to the top of the ship, then we slid down the side and raced around to the front. 

I was exhausted, but exhilarated at the same time. When we made it around the front, Cassie and Marco had joined up with Jake, and we all turned as one to look at the front of the vessel. A rectangular groove had appeared, curving all the way up the face of the rounded head of the ship. 

It folded downwards with a mechanical hiss and formed a ramp down to the mud. I noticed then that the ship had tilted slightly. It had leveled out, and was now humming with power of a different kind. This wasn’t an ancient relic, lost to time. This was a tool, a weapon maybe, that was primed and ready to be used. 

Cassie gasped and I looked back at the entrance, where out of the bright, intense light inside the ship, something was stepping onto the ramp.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 90s, a group of junior high kids head out from the arcade to a little after-school dungeon crawling. What they find is not what they expect, and they are pulled into a conspiracy, an alien invasion, and a fight for their world that they were not ready for.
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Animorphs, but in an Urban Arcana/Modern Fantasy setting. Still set in the late 90s though, but with lots of magic and monsters and stuff..
> 
> A piece of art was done for it, but isn't relevant to the fic until the end of chapter 3/start of chapter 4, where I'll be putting it into the fic itself. The link to the art can be found [HERE](https://asleepymonster.tumblr.com/post/625293513162162176/fic-link-urban-arcana-morphs-my-art-piece-for-the)
> 
> This piece of artwork was done by Alex. The link to the original art is above, and I've got to say... I adore the piece. It came out beautifully. Thank you so much, Alex, its gorgeous!!!

Chapter 04 - Cassie

Chapter 04 - Cassie

I’ve seen a lot of animals and monsters. My mom is the head caretaker and veterinarian at the zoo/amusement park just a little ways outside of town, and my dad runs a wildlife rehabilitation clinic out of our family barn. My mom mostly cares for wild animals and stuff that can’t be found in the woods. My dad tends to everything local, and so we’ve got deer and all kinds of birds and skunks and stuff, but also the occasional manticore or owlbear. We’ve got special restraints and cages for the bigger stuff, too. Anyway, the point is I’ve seen a lot. I’ve cared for a lot! I once had to insert a suppository to a heat drake. 

I’d never seen anything like what just stepped off the ship and began moving down the ramp. I could tell it was injured from the way it shifted its weight off of one of its four hooved feet, but that was it. It kind of looked like a centaur, with that humanoid upper torso growing where the horse’s neck should be, but it was smaller. It had the vague proportions of a deer instead, except its hind legs were a little too short, giving it a sloping back that wouldn’t be at all comfortable to ride. 

It had a… sort of snout? Its head was humanoid in size, but sloped forward and at the blunt end sat at a trio of slits that seemed to be nostrils. It had no mouth that I could see, and what I’d thought were horns based on the shadowed silhouette turned out to instead be an extra set of eyes. They were mounted on thick, flexible stalks that moved like an elephant’s trunk and grew from the back of its skull. It had large, flexible ears that were currently folded down, almost touching its shoulders. Its main eyes, the ones set in the appropriate place on the front of its face, were sweeping over us while the two tentacle eyes swung in every direction, scanning for all possible dangers from all possible angles. 

It had long, thin arms that ended in hands a little too big and with a few too many fingers. The arms didn’t look particularly strong, and one of them was curled tightly against its chest to press against some kind of burn mark that covered its abdomen and side. The smell of burned flesh was strong, and I immediately stepped forward. Whatever it was, it needed help. 

I only made it a foot before Jake’s hand grabbed mine and pulled me back sharply. I looked back at him, and at first I thought he was staring at the creature in horror and fear, but his eyes were too high. I looked back and saw what I’d missed in my haste. 

A long, muscular tail extended from its hind quarters. If it stretched out, it would be maybe seven or eight feet long, but it was arched and curved in a half moon shape. And at the end of the tail, light glinting off the long, keen edge, was a scythe blade that wouldn’t look out of place on the grim reaper’s staff. 

My father’s first and most important lesson had just been forgotten, and if he knew about this he’d tut and frown in the most disappointed way. 

“Cassie…” he’d start, shaking his head a little. “You must always, always, note the dangers first, size second, and wounds third.” That blade was a serious danger, especially on a wounded creature. 

As if it heard my thoughts, it curled its tail and wrapped its blade in a tight, scorpion-like coil, and a voice echoed in my mind. 

{Greetings, Terran youths. I am Elfangor. You have nothing to fear.} 

Rachel immediately yelled and stepped back. 

“He’s in my head!” 

“Rachel, relax.” Jake’s words were careful, measured, and slow. “He’s telepathic. We had a class on that.

{It is somewhat different from your understanding of Telepathy. My people call it Thought-Speak.} Elfangor’s words were measured as well, cautious. Jake was suspicious, and ready for anything, and that was why he had spoken that way. But this… being was speaking slowly because every word caused him pain. I could feel it, bubbling just under the surface of his words. He was controlling himself somehow, reigning in how much he shared with us.

“Thanks for clearing that up, Mister Alien Guy. The nomenclature is the real important part of this whole situation.” Marco’s words, in contrast to Jake and Elfangor, were fast and sharp, scathing. Jake frowned and looked at Marco. 

“Nomenclature?” 

“Yeah, it means-” 

“I know what it means. I was just surprised that-” 

Elfangor laughed softly, then a scream of pain washed over me. It filled every nook and cranny of my mind, until I didn’t know where I ended and the pain started. I felt like I was drowning, sinking into that agony and unable to swim with my hooves and my weak arms and - 

The pain stopped suddenly, and my eyes cleared. I was on my knees, hands pressed against my side. I could still feel the blood running over my palms, trailing down seven-fingered hands that weren’t mine. When I looked up at him, I saw sadness in his eyes, and my friends all spoke at once.

“What did you do to Cassie you fuzzy freak!” Rachel’s club was up and she was advancing on the creature. 

“Cassie, are you okay?” Jake was reaching forward to help me up, one hand already on my shoulder. 

“Oh that’s not threatening at all. Just psychic attacks, that’s cool. Great, really!” Marco, despite his prattling, was staring at the alien intently, and he was holding one of his rattan sticks. He wasn’t a great fighter, but he could still mess someone up with those. 

Tobias didn’t say anything, but he was also moving towards Elfangor. He seemed… in awe of him.

“Wait!” I called, my words aimed at Rachel. “I’m fine. He didn’t… he didn’t do anything to me.” 

{That’s not true. I relaxed my safe guards and my pain escaped. The one called Cassie seems to be particularly sensitive to my thought-speak. I’m sorry.} 

Jake, still holding onto me, looked doubtful, so I reached up and took his other hand, using it to get to my feet. I still felt phantom pains all over my body, and winced as I got up, but I stood just the same. 

Rachel didn’t move away from Elfangor, but she stopped moving forward. Before she could say anything else, I stepped up so I was level with her and Tobias now. 

“Is there anything we can do, sir? I have first-aid training. And I think I have a big of healing potion in my bag somewhere.” 

{No, Cassie. Your training will do you no good. My wounds have damaged one of my hearts. As we speak, my circulatory system is failing. In fact, I think my-} 

His hind legs slumped to the ground, hard, and he cried out again. This time, the pain did not overwhelm me, but I still felt it, and tears sprang to my eyes. I had to be able to do something. I stepped forward again, but he raised a hand and forced himself back up to his feet. 

{I will die soon.} 

Jake let out a gasp and Marco snorted. Tobias cried out a plaintive “no” and Rachel just cocked her head, confused. I frowned and said “No, absolutely not. I can help. We just need some bandages. I’ll just need to rip up-” 

{Cassie… please. There’s no time.} There was panic in his voice, and I stopped speaking. He was staring at me, with both of his big eyes, and I could see the sadness there. He was heart-broken for some reason, and so very, very tired. He just wanted to rest, but he couldn’t, and I got the sense that he’d felt that way a long time. For some reason, I thought of my uncle, who’d done a tour with the Marines and had never really been the same after. 

“Okay.” 

{Thank you.} His words then rose in volume somehow, and I knew that his plea had been for me to hear. I could tell that my sudden change in tactic had caught Rachel’s attention, but I shook my head, and she didn’t protest. She often said that sometimes I looked like my mom, that I had her “now is not the time” face, and Rachel hated that it worked on her. I guess I had it now. 

{I must warn you all. The Yeerks are here, and they are going to take over your planet if no one stops them.} 

“An alien invasion too? Great!” Marco scoffed again, and Rachel rounded on him. 

“What is your problem, Marco?” 

“My problem is that this guy shows up out of nowhere with weird psychic powers, in an alien spaceship, and wants to warn us of an invasion! Where do I even start with that? All I wanted was to get some lame gems or maybe a few old pieces of art, or some rare metal that I could sell for some spending money, not get drafted into… whatever this is!”

{You’ve a point, Marco. I wish I didn’t have to burden you with this, but there is no time to find anyone else. Besides, your greatest heroes would have been the first the Yeerks targeted.} 

Marco’s expression soured, but he didn’t speak again. I could tell that he hadn’t expected the alien to actually agree with him. 

{The Yeerks are parasites. They look like slugs, about the length of your hand. They crawl into the ears of people, wrap around their minds, and take complete and total control of their hosts bodies. They know everything they know. They behave exactly like them. They can do this for up to three days before they must return to the Yeerk Pool to feed. They can be anyone. Everyone. Your own family, your closest friends.} 

Dread rose up inside me. I believed him, but I didn’t want to. That was monstrous. I thought of what it’d be like to go home to my parents, and not know that one of them had an alien slug wrapped around their brain. 

“Oh man…” Tobias said, frowning and wringing his hands together. “That’s… serious.” 

“Yeah! So why didn’t you, like, go to the army or something!” Marco made a good point, and Elfangor nodded slowly. 

{Had I a choice, I would have tried. However, I had no real control over where I landed. When Andalite Command dispatched us to this system, we had no idea the Yeerks were here in such numbers. I don’t think any of my kinfolk survived. I crashed here, but I cloaked my vessel in powerful magic, so that only a group of uninfested Terrans could find it, open it, and awaken me from hibernation. Now that I’m awake, I can warn you, and plead for help. Unfortunately, now that I’m awake, we do not have much time for further explanation.} 

“Why not?” Tobias’ question was somewhat redundant, I thought. Marco decided not to think it. 

“Because Princess Leia here is about to croak.” 

{That’s not why. The Yeerks will have seen my ship activate. They will be here soon.} Elfangor turned one stalk eye to Tobias. {Will you go into my ship and retrieve the blue box from my command console?} 

“Oh… sure.” Tobias got up carefully and walked up the ramp, passing by Elfangor before breaking into a light jog. He was gone only about thirty seconds before he came back clutching a perfectly smooth, featureless cube. It was about eight inches on each side and glowing a soft blue. Tobias held it out to Elfangor, who took it in his small, thin-fingered hands. He held it in both palms, arms keeping it at about shoulder height for all of us. 

{It is the only thing I can offer you, aside from my warning.} 

“What does it do?” I spoke quietly, staring at the box intently. It was strange. No matter how hard I looked at it, the light did not seem too bright. It was warm and gentle, the light coming off the cube. 

{It will give you the ability to morph. To change into any animal you touch. It takes concentration, both to change into a form and change back, but with practice it will become easier.} 

“So it’s like a Polymorph spell!” Tobias was suddenly excited again, curious and engaged. 

{Somewhat. This is technology, though. I do not know how it will interact with your Terran magics.} 

“I’ll figure it out…” Tobias’ words were as soft as the light casting an eerie glow over his face, and when I looked back up at Elfangor, I saw an affectionate gleam in his eyes. Before I could ponder that any longer, Marco’s voice once again cut through the quiet. 

“Oh please. Shapeshifting technology? Alien invasions? This is so far above our level, we shouldn’t even be thinking about it.” 

“Oh come on Marco. I always thought you were a dweeb, but I didn’t know you were a coward.” 

Marco snarled at Rachel, literally snarled, like a feral beast, and glared at her, but it was Jake that stepped up to her. 

“Watch it Rachel. He’s right. This isn’t a game, or an after-school quest. This is serious business.” 

{Jake is right. This is incredibly serious. I wish I could lead you myself. You will be on your own, and at times it will be too much for you. You will be tested, like you’ve never been tested before. But your world needs you. You’re its only hope.} He focused all four of his eyes on Marco at that, who seemed, for a brief moment, amused. Then his eyebrows drew together and his ears flapped down, almost brushing his shoulders. He had to think. 

I didn’t. 

“I’ll do it,” I said. I focused on Elfangor, locking eyes with him. His stalk eyes were roving about again, one of them always facing up into the sky, and his eyes smiled. It was odd to describe, but I could tell that he was grinning broadly. I smiled back, and then his eyes moved to the rest of the group. 

“If Cassie’s doing it, so am I. I can’t let her do something dangerous without me. I’m the tank.” Rachel stepped up a little closer to me, also looking up at Elfangor. 

“I’ll do what I can.” Jake joined us in the little half circle around Elfangor. He left a gap between himself and Tobias, a gap that Marco filled a few seconds later. 

“Fine. If I got a chance for actual superpowers and passed it up I’d kick myself forever.” 

{Very well. You need only place a hand on the Escafil Device.} 

Almost as one, we all reached up and planted a hand on the nearest face. Tobias’ hand moved first, sealing over the top, and the rest of us got a side. My fingers brushed over Elfangor’s palms as I reached up, and some of his fingers, unnaturally jointed and flexible, brushed against my hand. 

We were the last people he was ever going to see. The sadness that suddenly rolled through me at that realization was so powerful, I almost didn’t notice the strange tingling that swept up my arm and through my entire body. Then it was gone, and Elfangor stumbled back from us. He yelled in pain again as he planted his hooved feet to try and remain standing, and the cube almost fell in the dirt. Tobias caught it somehow. 

{There. You now have the morphing power. Use it well, but be warned. If you remain in morph for more than two hours, you will be trapped, forever.} 

“Oh, a catch. Great.” Marco’s words were so despondent, so forlorn, I almost offered to comfort him. Elfangor, however, laughed. It was a bright, pure laugh, and he looked at all of us, that strange eye-smile shared with us all. 

{I believe in you, children. Your planet is a breeding ground for heroes, and so many of them started just like you all: a few undertrained, unprepared youths, thrown into a conflict that was bigger than all of them. Just remember them, when you are in doubt. You Terrans are miraculous.} 

“I knew it! You’ve been here before. You quoted Star Wars at me before!” Marco’s accusation made me flinch, the yell startling in the quiet. 

{Yes, Marco, I’ve been here before. I - } He stopped, turned both eye stalks up to the sky, and his tone changed sharply. {You must run. Now. They’ve found me. If they see you, all will be lost. If the Yeerks learn of you, they’ll hunt you down ceaselessly. You must not let them find you until you are ready! Tobias, throw the device back into the ship, now!} 

Tobias did as bid, chucking the box into the brightly-lit interior of the ship. 

{Run!} Elfangor shouted. {Run for your lives, children!} 

We ran. Was it in response to his request? Maybe. Was it actually because he felt so much fear in that moment, fear for our lives and that of our planet, that we couldn’t help but run? Perhaps. 

It was probably both. 

We ran up the side of the hill, into the dense woods at the edge of the cleared space where the ship had landed. We made it just in time for a sudden flash of heat to hit our backs, and then an explosion forced us head-over-heels down the other side of the hill. As I was lifted off my feet and spun, I saw the scene behind us as if in slow motion. 

Elfangor stood, tall and proud. His tail blade arced high over his body, almost in line with his head. He had both hands up, and a wall of force had appeared in front of his body, forcing the explosion that his ship had just become to remain on that half of the clearing. The devastation rolled up the hillside, setting fire to the forest around it. If not for Elfangor, the full blast would have hit us and we’d have been immolated as well. 

The explosion finally died down and Elfangor slumped to all four knees, clutching his wounded side. And then I fell back towards the earth, rolled down the hill, and was stopped, painfully, by a tree.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 90s, a group of junior high kids head out from the arcade to a little after-school dungeon crawling. What they find is not what they expect, and they are pulled into a conspiracy, an alien invasion, and a fight for their world that they were not ready for.
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Animorphs, but in an Urban Arcana/Modern Fantasy setting. Still set in the late 90s though, but with lots of magic and monsters and stuff.
> 
> A piece of art was done for it, but isn't relevant to the fic until the end of chapter 3/start of chapter 4, where I'll be putting it into the fic itself. The link to the art can be found [HERE](https://asleepymonster.tumblr.com/post/625293513162162176/fic-link-urban-arcana-morphs-my-art-piece-for-the)

Chapter 05 - Marco

The universe is a jerk. Just sort of in general, you know? It wasn’t enough that my quest for cool treasure ended up yielding only a handful of necromancy-infused bear claws. No, I had to be in an explosion. I had to be thrown down a hill, roll in the dirt, and stop my momentum by ramming my head into Jake’s stomach. His armored stomach. That’s just a typical Marco day.

We landed in a heap, my ears ringing from the detonation. They were folded down, almost flat against my cheeks and neck, and they hurt real bad. I rubbed my temples and groaned with distress, but everyone else was already scrabbling in the dirt, back towards the top of the hill, and I couldn’t sit and mope. I followed, the five of us lined up with our heads peeking over the edge, staring at what was happening in the scorched crater that had been Elfangor’s ship. 

A new ship had landed. It was kind of bug-like, with a big abdomen and a round head, and weird, multi-jointed legs jutting from the tube that connected the two sections together. There were four legs folded underneath the ship, holding it up, while two much bigger and longer ones were curved up and forwards, the tips glowing. Those had to be lasers or something. 

I heard a few of the others suck in a breath when the front of the ship opened sideways, and a massive, metal ramp slammed downwards into the ground, only a few feet from where Elfangor stood. Elfangor didn’t even flinch. He just held his tail up higher, the blade gleaming in the light of the fire burning the few trees that hadn’t been outright obliterated by the explosion. 

I heard another gasp and glanced over at Cassie, who was covering her mouth and staring at the top of the ramp. I looked up and had to fight down my own startled gasp as another Andalite started walking down the ramp towards Elfangor. This new Andalite was bigger, with broader shoulders and stronger-looking arms. He was also just… wrong. My skin started to crawl, and something my mom said to me before she died came back to me. 

“Be careful, kiddo. Your body knows when a storm is coming, even if your eyes don’t. Listen to it.” I felt like I could sense a storm coming off this Andalite, like if he so much as looked at me I’d be dead from a lightning strike, or I’d be drowned under the stormy sea. This Andalite was dangerous, and it had nothing to do with the three-foot-long blade curving from his tail. 

{Oh, you survived. Excellent.} The Andalite’s thought-speak was dripping with smugness and hatred. {I was worried I wouldn’t get to see the light leave your eyes when I ripped you apart, Elfangor.} 

{Well, you know me, Visser Three. I live to please.} Elfangor lunged forward, tail blade slicing at Visser Three, but the other Andalite snapped his own blade forward and parried the strike, then swiped to the side, striking Elfangor across the face with the flat part of the blade. Elfangor jerked from the hit, and Visser Three reared up to slam both front hooves into Elfangor’s torso, knocking him to the ground. 

Next to me, Jake leaped to his feet to grab Tobias, who’d just jumped over the edge of the hill. Jake yanked Tobias back and pinned him against the hill. I looked back at the two Andalites when Visser Three spoke again, nodded once to Jake as I looked. If Tobias had raced down the hill, he’d have been killed, and we’d be next. 

{A valiant effort, Andalite scum, but pointless. You’re weak.} Visser Three slapped Elfangor with the side of his tail-blade again, forcing him back onto his side on the ground. Visser Three started walking around the prone Elfangor, like a predator stalking prey. No, that’s not fair to predators. Visser Three was enjoying this way too much. 

{You do realize…} Elfangor’s words were strained, and he sat up and snorted, spewing blood from his nostrils. {That I was fatally wounded before you blasted me from orbit? That in a fair fight you’d have lost, as you always have when we crossed blades?} 

Visser Three reared up again but this time Elfangor’s tail lashed sideways, sweeping his hind legs out from under him. Visser Three crashed to the ground and Elfangor twisted his blade back around, driving it into Visser Three’s side. A sharp, mental howl of pain and rage followed, but Visser Three still stood up and sliced his blade down, severing Elfangor’s tail about three feet from his haunches. 

Elfangor’s scream was worse than any before, and this time, Cassie was the one to stand up, sobbing loudly and reaching out for Elfangor. Rachel managed to yank her back down, but I, the only one still peering over the edge, saw one of Visser Three’s eye stalks snap up to scan the ridge, and I ducked down behind it. 

After a moment of silence I peered back up, the only one who could watch with the other four clutching one another to keep from running in to try and rescue our new alien friend. Visser Three was staring at the shuddering form of Elfangor, who’d tucked his stump of a tail into the joint of one of his legs. He was sitting hard on it, clutching the other half of his tail in his hands, but staring at Visser Three with all four eyes. Visser Three had turned all four on him in turn, and had stopped pacing. 

The Visser was still bleeding from his wound, but as I watched, he began to warp, to change. His eye stalks locked into position and hardened, forming horns. His head stretched out further and then split open to form a mouth that filled with razor-sharp teeth. His weak-looking arms spread out on either side and grew thicker, the fingers longer, and flesh grew between them. His shoulders slid down his body somehow, stopping a little behind the shoulder things of his deer-like lower body. They were wings now. His hooves grew into raking claws. His tail blade disappeared entirely, but his tail was almost twenty feet long now. His fur vanished as well, and was replaced with dark red scales. Spines and spikes grew from his back, neck, chin and jaws. 

When he finally stopped growing and changing, almost a minute had passed, and Visser Three was no longer an andalite. He was a red-colored dragon, the size of a double-decker bus with wings and a tail and so many teeth. 

{Search the woods.} Visser Three’s voice was unchanged. He sounded almost bored now. I didn’t know who he was talking to, but when a half-dozen people in black armor made from some kind of slightly-reflective plastic came marching down out of the ship, I got my answer. 

{Now Elfangor, I don’t know how you defended yourself from the explosion, but I don’t think you’ll be able to stop this.} Visser Three opened his mouth, and flames licked at his lips. His maw opened wide and Elfangor sat up tall, then forced himself to his feet. 

{Run,} he said. It was the second time he’d told us to run, and for the second time that night I did what the weird psychic alien centaur scorpion told me to do. I ran. I grabbed my friends, and we shot into the woods like hell itself was after us. 

When the woods behind us lit up with dragon fire and cast six humanoid shadows into stark relief, six shadows that did not belong to us, I knew it was. 

~~~

“That way! I saw something moving over there!” The voice was slightly muffled by the helmet, but considering I was only about three feet away from the speaker, I could hear them just fine. When the speaker went to investigate the rock I’d just thrown, I snuck back to the little overhang that my friends were hiding in. Tobias had pulled another trick out of his spellbook, and cloaked the little area in an “Avoid looking at me” spell or something. The kid was soaked in sweat and looked about ready to pass out, but he’d bought us time. 

“There’s still six of them, but they’re spread out all around here. I don’t think we can just get past them. We’ll have to take a few out.” I was fast, and small, and sneaky, so of course I’d been elected to scout the situation out. 

“Who even are these guys?” Rachel growled, sitting with her back against the sloping rock and with her knees curled up to her chest. 

“Controllers,” Tobias said. “They’ve got yeerks in their heads. Visser Three is their commander.” 

“We don’t know that for sure. They could be under some kind of compulsion spell, or they could be magical automatons.” Cassie’s voice was shaky, and she was sitting very close to Rachel, like she was cold. 

“No, they’re controllers. The yeerks don’t know magic. They can’t control it the same way we can, even when controlling someone with magic.” 

“How could you possibly know that?” My voice was hushed, and a little frustrated. We were trapped, surrounded by goons looking to probably kill us, and this wasn’t anything like the drills we ran in class or the video games Jake and I played. I wasn’t going to let Tobias play Exposition Boy just because Elfangor had gotten burned up. 

“Elfangor told me. I think. Right before he… right before the flames. He… sent me something. Like, information, all at once. I just need to think about something and I’ll know more about it.” 

“Great. Elfangor left Tobias a little mind present. That’s trustworthy. Loving that. Why didn’t he give it to all of us then?” 

“I don’t know, Marco. I… that information isn’t in this… whatever he did.” 

I opened my mouth to complain some more, but Jake reached out and took my wrist, squeezing it and frowning at me. I narrowed my eyes, then shrugged and sat down. 

“Fine. Fine. How do we get past them, Tobias?” 

“I don’t know that either. I’m not… it’s not a… I…” He trailed off, sucking in deep breaths, but then Rachel leaned forward and grabbed Tobias by the shoulder, squeezing firmly, and our resident wizard relaxed a bit. He smiled weakly at Rachel and then said “It’s just general stuff. About the Yeerks, some stuff about the Andalites, about the galactic war they’ve been fighting. He said it would help us figure out what to do, but I think he meant that in the long run? I don’t, um… know what to do here.” 

Our little shelter was filled with five kids and silence. Slowly, I turned my head to look at Jake, and everyone else seemed to have the same idea. He’d always been the one shunted with the leadership role during group exercises, and I guess we all knew that.

I watched his face pale and for a moment I felt bad for him. The moment ended when a controller passed by our hiding spot and spoke. 

“Something… something feels weird here. I… never mind.” He walked away,, but Tobias frowned and leaned forward a little. 

“The spell is falling apart, we don’t have a lot of time.” 

Jake covered his face in his hands and I started rocking in place, nervous energy filling me up. Waiting wasn’t easy, but after a minute or so Jake’s pulled his hands away and sat up. 

“Okay. This is our problem. We need to get away from the Controllers without them seeing us. If they see us, they’ll come after us later.”

“Not just us. Your families, too,” Tobias said, taking the water bottle that Cassie had just pulled from her bag. I almost asked what he meant by “your” families, but we had more pressing issues than semantics, or whatever shitshow Tobias’ home life was. He wasn’t the only one with family trouble. My dad hadn’t left the house in two weeks, and hadn’t been employed since my mom died last year. 

“Right. So we need to stealth this one. Tobias, can you do any invisibility magic?” 

“I’m barely conscious, and I couldn’t even do that with full spell slots, if you know what I mean.” Tobias sounded like he was about to fall asleep, but I felt an idea bubbling up in my devious little mind. 

“So we need something loud and distracting in the opposite direction we want to go. I’ve got just the thing.” Jake laughed, a short sharp bark of amusement and I grinned, rubbed my hands together, and started rummaging around in my bag. 

“Alright, so Marco will handle the distraction, but we need a place to go.” 

“I… might have an idea,” Cassie said, a frown creeping across her features.

~~~

Two minutes later, I was tucked in the branches of a tree, desperately trying to calm my breathing. I’d almost been seen twice, and this was probably the scariest situation I’d ever been in. No, hands down, it was the scariest. Sure I’d taken all the stealth courses, but I had no idea if these guys had any cool alien scanning tech and I was only guessing what their peripheral vision was like in those helmets. Still, I was in position, firework in hand, alchemist’s fire in the other, and a bag of caltrops in my teeth. 

I counted to ten in my head, then held my breath, counted again, and then exhaled long and slow through my nose. Then I moved, and I moved fast. I slammed the end of the firework against the tree, igniting the bit of impact powder there. The fuse lit and I jabbed the support stick into the branch in front of me. With my now free hand, I tugged the plastic tab from the top of the plastic orb that the alchemist’s fire was in, then I threw the sphere of soon-to-be-molten-death as far from me as possible.

I ran, and I ran fast. The caltrops I held in one hand, just in case. I didn’t even bother with stealth now. No amount of careful stepping was going to matter when-

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEE-BOOOM. The firework had just taken off, ricocheted off a tree branch, and exploded. A split second after, there was another explosion as the alchemist fire’s specially-designed bottle finally let the combustible chemicals mix, and that explosion was even nastier. I heard shouts all around me and ducked into a bush, just in time for two of the controllers to race past me. Then I ran again, nearly dropping to all fours. That always hurt my hips so I forced myself to stay upright, and I made it. I skidded to a halt, sucking in deep breaths, but there wasn’t any time. Cassie, Rachel, Jake, and Tobias got to their feet as soon as they saw me, and the five of us took off in the opposite direction. 

The distraction was to get us out of our hidey hole and get some distance between us and them before the chase resumed, and it spread everyone out. About a minute into our run, one of the straggling controllers heard us blundering through the woods and shouted a warning, and gave chase. They hadn’t seen us; we could hear them yelling about “something moving through the woods,” but we couldn’t do anything to hide.

We made it though. We stayed ahead of the controllers for about ten minutes before we made it up to the caverns that Cassie had told us about, and we ran over hard stone instead of loose earth and mud. No real trail up here, she’d said. There wouldn’t be anything to track. Plus, there were the monsters. We ducked into the first cave we could find, moving as far back as we could in the darkness, and hoped. It was all we could do.

Too bad the universe hates Marco. 

A controller passed in front of our cave, holding what looked sort of like a flash-light with a pistol grip. They had it in one hand and were sweeping it back and forth, and even pointed it into the cave briefly, before moving on. We all collectively breathed a sigh of relief, and then I felt someone’s breath on the back of my neck. 

“Whoever’s being all slasher killer on me, stop it.” 

“Shhh!” Tobias’ hush was louder than my whisper, and in the darkness, someone growled. 

“So who is growling?” I asked. Maybe Rachel was turning feral, finally.

“Not me,” Cassie and Rachel said in tandem.

“I don’t even know how to growl.” Jake was telling the truth, he could barely grunt. It was weird. 

“Tobias?” 

“Not me.” 

“Okay well… that’s not ominous at all, guys. Totally cool with the growling cave.” 

I turned left and right, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but it was slow going. I looked up and two discs of light appeared: eyes. Big ones. The light reflected in those massive eyes was enough to see what was hiding in this cave with us.

“Oh no.” Five sharp gasps, one of them mine, echoed in the cave.

“Owlbear.” We whispered it, all at once, staring at the hulking beast leaning over us.

The creature was roughly the size of a minivan, crammed into the back of the cave. It had the general shape of a bear, with the huge, tree-trunk-like limbs and cutting claws, but it had a heart-shaped, feathered face and a sharp beak. The eyes were absolutely gigantic and could see in darkness that night-vision goggles would have trouble with. It was growling at us, leaning down to sniff at us, and I could hear its claws sliding over the stone. 

“Two bears in one day. What’s up with that?” I tried to keep my voice down, but I don’t think I succeeded. My ears perked up as the faint sound of someone saying “What was that? Think I heard something over this way” reached them. 

“Cassie? Can you talk it down?” Jake did manage to keep his words a whisper, but the sound of his sword sliding from its scabbard was a screech almost as loud as the creature’s claws on the rock, and its giant, lamp-like eyes snapped, I assumed, in his direction. 

“I’m not a druid! I just like animals! And it isn’t even an animal!”

“What do you mean it isn’t an animal. It is an Owl… Bear! That’s two animals!” 

“Yeah but that’s not… it isn’t the same… ugh! Okay,I can try.” Cassie’s boots crunched on the stone and the creature’s eyes shifted again. I was beginning to see blurry shapes in the darkness aside from the owlbear. Cassie’s outline had just moved forward, and the creature’s rumbling growl was getting louder. Cassie’s voice also got a little louder, but dipped into a lower, calming register. 

“That’s alright. It is okay. We’re not a threat. We’re not food. We’re just passing through.” 

Maybe the words worked. Maybe Cassie was a bit more druid than she let on. Or maybe the universe liked Cassie more than me. I don’t know, but the monster didn’t slice her open. Instead it paused, waited, and Cassie was able to reach out and gently stroke its fur. She ran her fingers slowly over one of its forelimbs, and the creature stopped growling. The Owlbear’s weight shifted back, and it actually sat on the ground. The reflective eyes drooped part-way shut, and we all breathed another collective sigh of relief. 

I started to say something, something that would have been witty and incredibly funny and also charming, but a voice at the end of the cavern made all six of our heads whip around. 

“Something’s in there! I’m going to try and flush it out.” The controller held his flash-light thingy up and a beam of blue light flashed into the cavern. The weapon made a sound, something very Star Treky but… wrong. 

TSEEW!

The beam shot down the cave and struck the owlbear, and the beast bellowed in rage and raced out of the cave. It swiped hard at the Controller, smashing him out of sight, and then another beam of light struck it. A half-circle of flesh and bone disappeared form the monster’s shoulder, but it swung and swiped again, roaring. There was a crunch as someone hit stone, hard enough that dirt fell on my head. 

The Owlbear fought viciously. Three more controllers stepped into sight, and we watched the fight from the cave. The controllers tried to blast the creature, but it was fast, and strong, and they didn’t have time to line up a good shot. The owlbear sliced and smashed them, cutting through their armor enough to draw blood but not enough to take them down. Finally, the controllers changed tactics. One of them drew out a small axe, another a sword and shield that were strapped to their back, and the third started fiddling with their weapon. 

“I’m turning up the heat on my Dracon beam. Cover me while it charges up.” 

“Got it, Errisa 257.” The one with the sword and shield started rotating his shoulders, warming up, while circling the Owlbear. “Kylat 499, circle it. Let’s take it to school.” 

The one with the axe chuckled and lunged, but I wasn’t looking at the battle. I had just snapped my head over to Jake, who I could just barely make out in the darkness. His face was pale, sweat dripping down his face. We both recognized that voice. We heard it all the time. We used to hear it a lot more often, when the speaker taught us to play all his favorite video games, or tried to teach us basketball tricks. 

The controller with the sword, who was now masterfully slicing the owlbear to pieces with his axe-wielding friend, was Tom, Jake’s older brother. He’d even used the same dumb catch phrase Tom always said before a basketball game. 

“No no no no!” Jake said, taking a step towards the cave entrance. I dove into him, pressing him up against the wall. 

“Jake! Wait!” 

“That’s my brother out there. He’s… they’ve… it can’t be!” 

“It can! You heard Elfangor! They could be anyone!” 

“But not Tom! They can’t have him, Marco!” Jake’s voice had dropped a few octaves, and his hands found my arms. He squeezed my biceps, hard, and pushed me back. The clanging of steel-against-claw and the howling of the Owlbear covered our voices easily, but still I tried to keep my voice down. 

“They’ve already got him!” 

Another pair of hands loomed out of the darkness and grabbed Jake, but not around the body. They grabbed his hand. Rachel squeezed Jake’s hand hard, forcing him to look at her. 

“We’ll get him back.” She spoke softly, carefully, like Cassie had spoken to the owlbear. We did not need Jake dipping into an orcish rage right now. 

“Yeah, Jake. We just need a plan! So sit down and wait!” I pulled again, grabbing his shoulders, but he wouldn’t budge. Not at first. Finally, after a few seconds, he relaxed and Rachel and I pulled him deeper into the cave. 

Then a flash of blue light filled the cavern for a moment, and we glanced back, just in time. 

The Owlbear had a hole through it size of a watermelon. It groaned, confused, and then another blast struck it in the face. It had no head now. The creature then fell, slowly, onto the ground, and Tom laughed. 

“Nice shot, Errisa 257.”

“If you guys had bothered to attend the courses, you’d be a good shot too.” 

“I’ve only had this host for a few weeks,” Kylat 499 hissed, dropping his axe into the loop on his belt. Tom sheathed his sword and stowed his shield, then stepped out of sight while Errisa 257 and Kylat 499 bickered. After a few seconds, Tom spoke again.

“Looks like Tennin 221 is dead. He must have spooked the beast. It turned his head around, and he died when his host did. Shame. The host was strong. Will one of you check Iniss 226? If he’s dead that’ll be hard to explain.” 

Before anyone could do anything, another voice spoke up, groggy as if just waking up.

“What? What happened? The beast? Is it…” This voice made my eyes widen in surprise. That voice was also one we heard often. Usually it said some variation of “don’t run in the halls,” or was telling someone to go to detention. It was our Vice Principal, Mister Chapman. 

“Relax Iniss 226. We killed it while you napped.” 

“Excellent. Good. Yes. Is this the creature we were chasing?” 

“That makes sense. Not sure how it set off a firework though.” 

“We’ll have to head back and see if we can pick up a trail properly. Maybe the Taxxons can sniff something out. Errisa 257, vaporize the bodies.” 

“Right away.” Two more beams of light and the body of the owlbear was completely gone, and so was the body of whoever had died. And then, they were gone. 

We didn’t move for almost ten minutes, though Cassie broke down into sobs and Jake started to silently shake, face buried in his knees. 

~~~

We made it home okay. It wasn’t even all that late. When we all got home, Jake called all of us to check in, even Tobias. We kept it casual, forcing our voices to remain level and our words to be as boring as usual. After, I found an instant noodle that hadn’t gone bad or had the lid eaten through by rats, had dinner, and went to bed. 

I didn’t sleep. How could I? We’d just entered a war with aliens that could vaporize powerful monsters with a single blast of a space gun, and all we had was a dented up shield and sword, a bourgeois stick, a crossbow, my dad’s old alchemical trash, and a wizard who could cast a couple of jump spells before passing out. Oh, and we’re supposed to be able to transform into animals. 

Great. If the universe had a face, I’d punch it. Thanks universe. You suck.


End file.
